Building an In-House Design Organization
CASE STUDY: DESIGN OPERATIONS
Led a six-month transition from agency-dependent execution to a governed, high-performing in-house design model—unlocking $12M in annual savings.
Transition from vendors to a scalable internal UX organization.
Limited internal capability and long-term scalability.
Transition from vendors to a scalable internal UX organization.
Senior UX Strategy Lead/Design Operations Architect
Establish a governed operating model
Establish a governed operating model
Define clear roles, processes, and standards.
Spend increased while adaptability declined.
Build in-house
capability
Agency
dependency
High cost,
low flexibility
OVERVIEW
The Challenge, the Opportunity, and the Scope
The Challenge
The Challenge
Agency dependency
Limited internal capability and long-term scalability.
Unclear intake and prioritization
Work entered inconsistently across teams.
High cost, low flexibility
Spend increased while adaptability declined.
The Opportunities
Increase speed and consistency
The Opportunities
Build in-house capability
Reduce friction across strategy, design, and delivery.
Transition from vendors to a scalable internal UX organization.
My Role
Build in-house capability
Define clear roles, processes, and standards.
Project Snapshot
Project Snapshot
Organization
Discover Financial Services
Organization
My Role
Discover Financial Services
Senior UX Strategy Lead/Design Operations Architect
Unclear intake and prioritization
Timeline
Work entered inconsistently across teams.
Six-month transformation
Scope
Enterprise digital design across multiple product workstreams
Increase speed and consistency
Reduce friction across strategy, design, and delivery.
Scope
Enterprise digital design across multiple product workstreams
Timeline
Six-month transformation
Strategic Lead & Operational Architect
I led the transformation end-to-end, balancing strategy, execution, and change management within a highly regulated enterprise environment.
ACCOUNTABILITY
My Role
Executive Influence
Primary liaison between UX and senior leadership to align on vision and secure buy-in for a $12M transition to an in-house design model.
Operational Design
Designed the end-to-end operating model, including intake workflows, governance standards, and
resourcing tiers to support enterprise-scale delivery.
Strategic Lead & Operational Architect
I led the transformation end-to-end, balancing strategy, execution, and change management within a highly regulated enterprise environment.
Executive Influence
Primary liaison between UX and senior leadership
to align on vision and secure buy-in for a $12M
transition to an in-house design model.
Team Mentorship
Established onboarding frameworks, role clarity, and ways of working to scale a team of 25+ designers and UX strategists.
Team Mentorship
Established onboarding frameworks, role clarity, and ways of working to scale a team of 25+ designers and UX strategists.
Process Compliance
Partnered with Risk and Compliance to ensure enterprise standards were met without slowing delivery.
Operational Design
Designed the end-to-end operating model, including intake workflows, governance standards, and
resourcing tiers to support enterprise-scale delivery.
Process Compliance
Partnered with Risk and Compliance to ensure enterprise standards were met without slowing delivery.
THE PROBLEM
When Scale Outpaced Structure
As the organization grew, a vendor-first model and unclear ownership created friction, rising costs, and inconsistent outcomes.
What broke down
❋ Rising Costs
Agency spend increased without building long-term internal capability.
❋ Limited Visibility
Work entered the system without a shared intake or prioritization model.
❋ Unclear Ownership
Decision rights varied across teams, increasing risk and inconsistency.
We were spending heavily on execution without the connective tissue needed to lead with strategy.
Step 3: Defining Ownership and Accountability
Facilitated leadership working sessions to establish a RACI that clarified decision rights, collaboration points, and onboarding standards.
Why it mattered:
Reduced confusion, sped decision making, and supported consistent scaling.
THE APPROACH
Building the System Behind the Work
I led a four-step approach to move the organization from agency-dependent delivery to a governed, in-house design capability.
Step 1: Clarifying How Strategy and Design Work Together
Defined a shared model using the Double Diamond
to clarify ownership, handoffs, and collaboration
across discover, definition, and delivery.
Why it mattered:
Eliminated duplicate work and set a clear foundation
for execution.
Step 2: Creating Structure for Intake & Prioritization
Introduced a standardized intake and tiering model to align demand with capacity and strategic value.
Why it mattered:
Improved transparency, prioritization, and planning across teams.
Step 4: Making it Enterprise-Ready
Documented the end-to-end design process in Blueworks to operationalize governance and controls.
Why it mattered:
Enabled audit readiness, transparency, and confidence in a regulated environment.
Step 1: Clarifying How Strategy and Design Work Together
Defined a shared model using the Double Diamond to clarify ownership, handoffs, and collaboration across discover, definition, and delivery.
Why it mattered:
Eliminated duplicate work and set a clear foundation for execution.
Step 2: Creating Structure for Intake & Prioritization
Introduced a standardized intake and tiering model to align demand with capacity and strategic value.
Why it mattered:
Improved transparency, prioritization, and planning across teams.
Step 3: Defining Ownership and Accountability
Facilitated leadership working sessions to establish a RACI that clarified decision rights, collaboration points, and onboarding standards.
Why it mattered:
Reduced confusion, sped decision making, and supported consistent scaling.
Step 4: Making it Enterprise-Ready
Documented the end-to-end design process in Blueworks to operationalize governance and controls.
Why it mattered:
Enabled audit readiness, transparency, and confidence in a regulated environment.
RESULTS
Outcomes & Impact
Within one year the operating model shifted from a cost center to a strategic asset.
$12M Realized SavingsReduced agency spend by transitioning core design and strategy work fully in-house.
35% Faster DeliveryStreamlined intake, clearer ownership, and fewer handoffs accelerated end-to-end delivery.
50% Fewer IterationsStronger upfront alignment improved quality and reduced rework across design cycles.
Beyond the Numbers
We didn’t just improve efficiency, we changed how the team worked. UX strategists and designers moved from uncertainty to confidence as expectations, ownership, and decision rights became clear.
LESSONS FROM THE WORK
Reflection
Building the system was the easy part. Changing how people worked together created the real value.
This project marked a shift from reactive, ticket-driven execution to a strategy-first model where teams understood why the work mattered—not just what they were delivering.
Operating in a highly regulated environment demanded clarity, discipline, and trust. By putting structure around decision-making and ownership, teams gained confidence rather than constraints. Design became more predictable, more credible, and more embedded in how the business operated.
Key leadership takeaways
Empathy enables change
Involving designers and strategists in shaping the RACI and Blueworks models ensured the system was built with them, not imposed on them. That buy-in made adoption stick.
Simple systems scale best
The most effective solutions were intuitive and practical. The intake and tiering models worked because people could understand and use them quickly.
Governance builds confidence, not friction
At an enterprise level, governance isn’t a blocker, it’s a safety net. Clear controls and decision rights gave teams the freedom to move faster and deliver with confidence.